<p>I don’t tip 20%.</p>
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<p>Should I ??</p>
<p>why not?
We almost always tip 20% unless service was absolutely awful, then we tip 10>%</p>
<p>If you can’t afford to tip 15-20% maybe you should eat at less expensive restaurants.</p>
<p>
[HowStuffWorks</a> “How Tipping Works”](<a href=“http://people.howstuffworks.com/tipping.htm]HowStuffWorks”>How Tipping Works | HowStuffWorks)</p>
<p>[Restaurant</a> Workers Can Still Be Paid $2.13 an Hour | Poverty in America | Change.org](<a href=“The World’s Platform for Change · Change.org”>The World’s Platform for Change · Change.org)</p>
<p>If you cannot afford the tip, then you should not be dining out (this is not Europe). If you cannot afford to leave a couple of bucks for the maid, then you should not be staying in that $250/night room. You are not punishing the resturant owners or the Hiltons, you are punishing the hard working people who make sure your dining experience is pleasant and your messes are picked up after you.</p>
<p>Once you have kids and take them out in public where they are loud and make a mess, you start to tip 20%.</p>
<p>My DH travels a lot, and is typically in a hotel for most of a week. He has started tipping the cleaning staff the FIRST night. Then he might leave a note like “extra coffee please” and <em>bingo</em>- next day he has 8 pks of coffee and 6 cups!</p>
<p>Sure sometimes there are different employees working, but for the mostpart he says it really helps.</p>
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<p>EK, thank you for the gratuitous comments --pun intended. If it makes you feel better or somehow superior, power to you! </p>
<p>Fwiw, I would be MUCH MORE inclined to leave generous tips at “cheaper” restaurants, and especially at family restaurants that are known to “spread the wealth” including to the staff that you do not see! Further, you migt consider that I wrote about the expectations of “20 to 30 percent.” That is quite different from a gratuity of FIFTEEN to TWENTY percent!</p>
<p>Do you really think that a waiter “deserves” a 20 dollar tip for a bottle of wine that is priced at 100 bucks? Order two bottles and the tip should be 40 dollars? For bringing 4 glasses to the table? </p>
<p>I have heard the argument of the “minimum wage” before and it is one that is as ridiculous as the expectations of tips above the common sense level. People in our age group DO know what waiters can make in restaurants and bars, and the stories of working for substandard wages are simply fantastic. </p>
<p>Good service should be rewarded properly, but within limits!</p>
<p>^ You’re ordering two $100 bottles of wine??? For 4 people??? Where are we eating?? What time are our reservations??? I am so there! :D</p>
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<p>What does “this is not Europe” mean? Are you intimating that Europeans do not tip? Or are you oblivious that most countries have developed a system that enforces the inclusion of the service charges, the taxes, and the taxes on the service charge IN the bill? </p>
<p>The issue is NOT about being able to afford a tip. The issue is what is considered a reasonable tip for the level of service provided. It is obvious that some of the “rules” have been established by the same people who benefit from them.</p>
<p>^ You’re ordering two $100 bottles of wine??? For 4 people??? Where are we eating?? What time are our reservations??? I am so there!</p>
<p>I’ll buy the wine, Jym! And I’ll let you “add to the tip” for the waiter, and the sommelier, and the bussboy, and the valet parking guys. Did I forget someone? Oh yes, the coat lady. That way, you won’t go to your hotel with a red face. I hope you’ll pick the Mandarin Oriental to slum the night away! </p>
<p>On a serious note, those tipping rules are really ludicrous, and probably developed at a time when the country was proud of its excesses. Gordon Gekko will not return … again! And neither will be the fat expenses accounts and condoned financial debauchery.</p>
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Actually, that was our experience in Europe last year. Tipping there is much more modest and is only for exceptional service. H, of course, still felt obligated to tip at least 10%- I think if the waiters had known that they might have been more attentive. They weren’t rude, but they were business-like. They gave us our menu, took our order (sometimes we had to flag them down to remember to take the order), brought the food and the bill. There was no “checking on us to see if we needed anything.” If we DID need something, we had to flag them down. They were being paid by the restaurant, not by our tips.</p>
<p>When S arrived home from his study abroad, we went straight from the airport to a restaurant for dinner. The very friendly waitress said, “Hi, my name is Waitress, I’ll be your server tonight,” with a big smile on her face, took our drink orders, and as she walked away S said, “Now I KNOW I’m home. Friendly waiters. I’ve missed that!” </p>
<p>That said, I still think the cost of paying a waiter at least minimum wage should be included in the price of the food.</p>
<p>I was gonna offer to handle the tip(s). Still on the winning end of that deal, depending on how much you let me drink.</p>
<p>Now talk about pet peeves-- why do they have valets at restaurants with immediately accessible parking lots?? There are several near me that block off the lot so you HAVE to valet park. The car will likely be parked spitting distance away. Yet I have to ransom it. Hand them my keys and then pay to get it back. Ransom… for sure. </p>
<p>What about the people that drive the vans to/from the rental car lots? Happy to tip if they help me with my carry-on bag. But if they dont even get up from the drivers seat and I am lugging my bag in/out-- nope. That buck or 2 is likely to go back in my pocket.</p>
<p>Do you really think that a waiter “deserves” a 20 dollar tip for a bottle of wine that is priced at 100 bucks? Order two bottles and the tip should be 40 dollars? For bringing 4 glasses to the table?</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe, that someone who can afford to pay $200 for two bottles of wine to be served to them, is not smart enough to figure out that will be included in the total cost of their " dining experience" and that the tip should reflect the total overall cost.</p>
<p>Of course I have never had a wine that I thought was worth $50 a person.
;)</p>
<p>Now talk about pet peeves-- why do they have valets at restaurants with immediately accessible parking lots??</p>
<p>I don’t understand this either- but some restaurants you can park your car yourself ( and keep ahold of your keys), other restaurants you * have to use their valet service* because the cars are so tightly jammed in.
I don’t like to have to wait for my car, I don’t like to worry that it is going to get scratched, so I am more likely to park it myself, or even …go someplace else.</p>
<p>If a restaurant feels that OpenTable cuts into their profits too much, then they can withdraw from it … right? I’m not sure why I as the customer am obligated to worry about whether they are making money on options that they provide to attract me. They need to make the decisions as to whether those investments are worth it (be they free vs valet parking, bringing bread to the table vs doing so only if requested, or taking credit cards).</p>
<p>As a waitress, I tip out about 7% on alcohol sales. As soon as you order that $100 bottle of wine, I owe the bartender and server assistant $3 and $4, respectively. Just something to take into account when you consider tipping a less-than-standard amount on wine.</p>
<p>As far as tipping goes, I feel the amount I tip is fine. I usually tip around $5 to $7.50 for my check and I think this is fine for my table. If the waitress works five tables in an hour (reasonable guess) and they all tip the same, then she is earning $25 to $35 in an hour minus what she tips out to various other workers.</p>
<p>It’s not 20% but I think it is a reasonable amount to tip.</p>
<p>$5- $7.50 tip for how many people? Approximately what is the size of the bill?? That sounds on the low side, BOTW. Many people sit at a table for more than an hour (especially at dinnertime), so the hourly estimate you calculated is off the mark. Need to increase the tip, and have it correlate with the quality of service.</p>
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<p>Table is for two. Meal consists of two entrees plus three drinks. I’m not going to reveal the dollar amount but they aren’t fancy places, they are like Bennigans, Chilies, Applebees, etc.</p>
<p>My wife and I sit for a little less than an hour. I don’t care how long others sit for, we tip based on our needs and the demands we place on the restuarant. Only on very rare occasions do we ask for anything besides the food and drinks.</p>
<p>Get back to us when you have the baby and take her out in public. Messy table, loud baby- = better tip</p>
<p>BTW-- very small baby will sleep all the time when you take her out-- so get your dinners in when shes real little!</p>